Now Commenting On:

Berry glad to have chance to play vs. O's Jones

Berry glad to have chance to play vs. O's Jones

Email

Print

Quintin Berry

By
/
|

BALTIMORE -- When Quintin Berry found out in May that he'd be joining the Tigers' active roster, one of the first things he did was look to see when he'd get the chance to play against long-time friend Adam Jones.

Berry and Jones have known each other since they were about 5 years old. They lived a block apart as children, attended the same elementary school and played together at Morse High School in San Diego.

On Friday they played as opponents for the first time at any level, with Berry starting in left field for the Tigers and Jones in center for the Orioles.

"It's like a dream come true, finally get to play against my boy," Berry said. "As soon as I got called up, I wanted to find out when we'd play against Baltimore. All I wanted to do is stay up until then, try to just get a chance to play against him and then I'll be straight. So I'm glad I made it long enough to get up here and play."

From the time they spent playing together as youngsters, Berry and Jones had joked about facing each other in the Majors one day.

Jones picked up Berry and his wife from the airport late Thursday night, and Berry said the two have plans to hang out and grab dinner during the weekend series.

The duo hadn't had a chance to see each other in person since Spring Training, when they used to meet in Tampa. Still, they managed to stay in touch regularly by phone, and Berry always stayed on top of what Jones was up to.

"Every night I check up on him," Berry said. "I know what he does every game pretty much. Telling my wife what he's done, if he hit a home run or whatever. He's doing great, man. Balling."

While not quite a rivalry, Berry said he and Jones engage in some friendly trash talk.

"He's competitive, I'm competitive, so I think it should be real fun," Berry said. "But we're friends at the end of the day, so that's all that matters."

"He's the enemy," Jones said of Berry. "If he's the enemy, after the game, we're friends. During the game, [we're not]."